Engineering apprenticeship: ‘I went from nearly failing maths in school to getting top marks in college’

“I did a three-year degree in politics, international relations and social science. But I didn’t necessarily intend on that being a career path.

“When I was in school preparing for the Leaving Certificate, we had to do aptitude tests, and from these we were given careers that would suit our basic set of skills.

“Mine said that I should pursue engineering. But there were no talks or much information available at the time from my school at least, to help me to move towards that type of career, and even less information on the likes of apprenticeships. We were all pushed towards college to do the likes of business, law, medicine and so on – the typical high-points CAO college courses.

“I was told that regardless of what I did in college I could get a job anywhere I wanted once I had a degree, so I decided that I would do something that seemed interesting to me. But the information I was given in school turned out to be incorrect. It was very difficult to get into pretty much anywhere with an arts degree.

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“My younger brother had started an apprenticeship about a year before I did. He seemed to really enjoy it. He was learning so much from the hands-on part of the course and from the senior engineers and technicians. I was in a job I didn’t really enjoy, in customer service, just to make enough to get me from pay cheque to pay cheque.

“I was looking for pretty much anything else at the time, so when I was offered an apprenticeship at KeyPlastics Ltd I jumped at the chance.

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“So I did the level seven manufacturing engineering course at GMIT (now ATU), a three-year degree.

“There was a heavy emphasis on LEAN Manufacturing, and we had classes in electrical engineering, project management, metrology, and CADCAM. We learned how to use the likes of Solidworks and Minitab.

“The information I now have helps me in my everyday job: for instance, I don’t use Solidworks in my job, but my use of it in college means I can read and understand technical drawings.

“I thought originally that I would really struggle with mathematics because I struggled in school with it, but I realised very quickly that college maths is nothing like Leaving Cert maths. There is a bigger emphasis on making sure that we understand rather than training our ability to parrot. I went from someone who nearly failed maths in school to someone who got top marks in college.

“On my first day, I realised I was going to be the only girl in a class of 11.

“I was the only one not from the west coast, and I really thought I was going to be walking into misogyny and confused looks as to why I was there. But it was the complete opposite: every one of the lads was friendly, they made me feel like I belonged there just as much as they did, and we helped each other through our two to three years together.

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“Now I am a part of the quality team at KeyPlastics Ltd as the metrology engineer – meaning that I spend my days measuring products for customers using technologies as simple as a vernier caliper, to a CMM and vision system, to moisture analysers and surface testers. I can genuinely say no two days are the same and I am constantly being tested and pushed to become better and further myself in this career.”